TMCnet Feature Free eNews Subscription
July 06, 2017

How HR Systems Can Help You Understand Your Workforce Better

A recent article published by the BBC suggested that, in terms of workforce demographics, 60 perent of inner London’s employed workforce hold degrees. In other words, more than half of the people employed in inner London are graduates.



How many similar statistics do you read on a daily basis? Probably several. Perhaps one day, someone will wildly tout that “the average company in Birmingham employs 40 percent males and 60 percent females” or on another, they might claim “did you know that the average working individual in Glasgow is 52?”  Of course, these last two statistics were made up. But the point is, how much use is this to you as an HR professional?

Working in HR, you don’t want to know what the average workforce of some random city somewhere else is… you want to know what your workforce looks like. Yours, specifically. Why? Because it’s your workforce, and you’re the HR guy or gal, and you’re interested in your own workforce.

But how many of the following questions can you answer?

  • What percentage of your company’s employees is female?
  • What is the average age of your company’s employees?
  • Where is the country of origin for most of your IT department?

Why You Might Want to Know What Your Workforce Looks Like

OK, so there are loads of reasons you might want to see what your workforce looks like. Perhaps there’s been a new equal opportunities bill passed, and you want to make sure you’re hitting the quota? Perhaps more nobly, you’re genuinely interested in building a diverse workplace culture. But whatever the reasons, unless you either have efficient HR software in place, or unless you’re willing to trawl through countless spreadsheets or employee records, it’s tough to actually know what your workforce looks like.

And once you’ve got the data… isn’t it boring to look at?

HR Software Can Empower You to Stay Aware (News - Alert) of Important Workforce Demographics

And if you’re using a fantastic HR system, this can be applied either to your entire company, or even just to a single department or team.

Let’s take a look at People’s HR system as an example. People HR is an employee database with an ambitious kick, that reminds you what to do next, goes wherever you go, and even lets you go completely paperless with contracts and files. But the real kick for many HR professionals is that People gives Human Resources an instant advantage with its set of pre-built insightful reports.

With just a click, People lets you summarize your entire workforce (or just the sales department), and instantly see the average age, the most dominant gender, the hottest (not literally) country of origin, and even the average length of service.

What Would You Do With These Stats?

Imagine if you, as a HR professional, had access to all these interesting and useful statistics about your workforce?

You could use the average service term to try and improve the quality of working life within your company, for example – imagine learning that the average employee stays with your company only nine months. Imagine then, checking that same report five years later, and learning that you’d increased that average service time to 15 months? It’s a surefire way of giving your ego a pat on the back, if nothing else, and it’s also likely to garner interest amongst company directors at the same time.

But one of the most useful advantages of knowing your workplace demographics is that you can ensure a good mix of employees to create a completely diverse workplace. You can instantly find out the average age, most dominant gender, hottest country of origin (again, not literally), and refine your employment strategy to attract candidates from the areas your company is lacking.

After all, Human Resources loves a happy workforce… and diversity makes a workforce happy.

Why not take a look at an HR system for yourself, and find out whether or not you can learn something new about your workforce?




 
» More TMCnet Feature Articles
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [Free eNews Subscription]
SHARE THIS ARTICLE

LATEST TMCNET ARTICLES

» More TMCnet Feature Articles